George Orwell’s ’1984′ Book Sales Skyrocket in Wake of NSA Prism Scandal

Book sales for George Orwell’s 1984, about a totalitarian government with the ever-watching eye of “Big Brother,” have skyrocketed in the wake of the National Security Administration (NSA) Prism surveillance scandal in the United States, reports the York Daily Record.

According the Amazon Movers & Shakers page, which tracks books with the biggest increase in sales, copies of 1984 have been flying of off the shelves at an exponential rate since news broke that the government had disturbing surveillance of phone and Internet records. As of Tuesday morning, sales of the book have risen by 5,771 percent. 1984 is currently at a sales rank of 92, a long way from its rank of 12,507 just a few days ago.

Albeit, the U.S. government isn’t quite to the point of Orwell’s dystopian classic, the issue has become quite relevant again. 1984 is not the only futuristic horror novel that saw a sales surge. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 increased in its rank as well as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

While former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked the information on the programs, may be channeling 1984’s main character, Winston Smith, who works in the Ministry of Truth, President Obama has defended the surveillance program.

“In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amok, but when you actually look at the details, then I think we’ve struck the right balance,” Obama said.